Meds for mood, sleep and pain relief that have worked for me.

[NWG23]

Since Trazodone 100mgs alone was not helping me sleep my GP added in 15mgs of Mirtazapine. I sleep like a log every night now and my depression and aches and pains are a thing of the past. I really do feel great!

In my experience Trazodone seems to help improve mood but not sleep but put the two together and the benefit of sleep takes away the fibro aches and pains. I had persevered for 7 months on Trazodone alone before agreeing to go on Mirtazapine.

The only real down side has been weight gain - about a stone in only 2 months, the very side effect I didn't want and had suffered for too long to prevent!

Interestingly though Trazodone actually made me lose my appetite and I lost weight. I had hoped it would carry on doing so even with the Mirtazapine but sadly it didn't.

Sexually it's not too bad I still function but I do think my libedo is down a little bit.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone as there wasn't many comments on these drugs when I was looking into them on here.

[hamble99b]

hi, I'm pleased that you have found something that works for you. I have poor appetite and poor sleep quality.

Although I haven't had either of those med's, I did have Tramadol. It helped with my sleep, but I had problems with it so had to stop taking it.

[TheAuthor]

That is really good news to read. It is a shame about the weight gain but I have read so many members posts about Gabapentin, Pregablin etc whereby they haven't work and they still gained weight? So this is quite a good result in many ways.

Good luck

Ken

[Reykua]

Hi NWG23,

Thanks for this encouraging post.

I think the reason why you have not received many responses to your posts is because the medications are not very familiar to those of us here in the UK - well, at least, I've not heard of either of them and had to look them up.

May I ask where you are because these drugs are not in my experience generally prescribed to those of us here and I've not even seen them on the drugs list approved for us here by our National Health Drugs Advice Department known as NICE - please do correct me if anyone knows differently.

Having said that, I think you're absolutely right in terms of suggesting combinations of meds. I found that Amitriptyline worked quite well for me in terms of aiding sleep but did not really address my pain. My doctor then prescribed Cymbalta (Duloxetine). I take both together and have been known to sleep soundly for a solid six hours minimum before the pain awakens me which is such an improvement on the two or three hours shifts of sleep I was getting previously.

Wishing you all the best going forward and now the pain is somewhat reduced, you could potentially do more walking to keep the weight off.

Do Let us know how you get on. I'm always on the lookout for any encouraging information I can utilise.

[NWG23 in reply to Reykua]

Hi, I had been on Amitriptyline for 8 years in the past but due to unpleasant side effects & excessive weight gain I weaned myself off. I tried a diet and health supplement regime for 2 years but although I lost 2 stone and looked great I became very depressed, didn't sleep and ached all over. Looking back it wasn't a good move. I eventually went to a different GP in our practice and he sent me down the counselling avenue and sleep hygiene route which turned out to be a complete waste of time. Eventually I agreed to an antidepressant and he put me on Trazodone. As he was a new doctor to the practice and didn't know my fibro history I think he didn't really focus on it but more on my depression. Perhaps but for his approach I might never have been put on Trazodone?? Anyway I lost confidence in him because I wasn't sleeping so I switched back to my original GP. I ended up researching meds for fibro myself and asked him to put me on Mirtazapine combined with Trazodone. I actually live in Scotland! but perhaps as Trazodone is prescribed more for depression than fibro it's just a coincidence that it and Mirtazapine work for me? I don't know. I am wondering though how long I will have to stay on both drugs but one thing's for sure I do need some kind of medication. It's obviously a chemical imbalance with me so I won't stray off into alternative therapies ever again.

[Reykua]

Thank you so much for your detailed response. I'm definitely going to check out the meds with my GP, I wonder if it's something I could get on a 'private prescription' here - south of the border.

I forgot to mention that I'm still taking Tramadol and Naproxen as well so I'm basically rattling when I walk. Many members have mentioned weight gain with Amitriptyline and I think I've gained a little but the benefits of good sleep for me far outweigh the weight issue - no pun intended.

I'm surprised to hear your experience of alternative therapies. I know so many people who have gone down that route, swear by it and have been trying to persuade me to switch. I've even promised to go down to my local Health Store to speak to the resident Doctor - she's both a qualified practicing GP as well as a homeopathically qualified doctor.

Perhaps I should hold off for a while until I've done a little more research.

Thanks again and best wishes going forward. Do let us know how you get on with the weight loss.